Wastewater runoff from a golf-course irrigation system is threatening research at caves along South Africa's southern coast that contain the earliest evidence of humans exploiting marine resources, scientists say. To their disappointment, a judge here declined last week to issue an injunction designed to protect the archaeological site.
Water is leaching down through the rock into the caves, including Pinnacle Point (which I wrote about here). The leaching is obviously not good, because it mucks up the chemistry in the sediments, and the sheer presence of extra water may screw with the dating models.
